Lawsuits are always fascinating in what information gets brought to light as part of the proceedings, and Google’s are no different. One inadvertent slip-up has revealed that Google spent $1.1 billion developing its autonomous technology from 2009 to 2015.
Back in June, Waymo was rumored to be working on self-driving semi trucks, with images of such a vehicle emerging later that month. Meanwhile, the Alphabet division also began exploring a ride-sharing service in Phoenix this year.
During an interview today, CEO John Krafcik confirmed Waymo’s work on both and how their autonomous technology might first come to market through either of those uses.
As the ongoing Waymo vs Uber legal saga nears next month’s trial, the Alphabet subsidiary has been granted access (via Gizmodo) to a key document related to the acquisition of Anthony Levandowski’s Otto startup. This due diligence report, which has been closely guarded, takes a look at the Googlers that eventually ended up at Uber.
While real-world experience is important for training self-driving cars, virtual driving is increasingly playing a bigger and bigger role for Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle division. This Carcraft virtualization works in tandem with a “secret base” known as Castle where Waymo has built a city that can quickly be reconfigured to different testing scenarios.
Last month, Uber was granted the ability to depose Alphabet CEO Larry Page as part of the ongoing Waymo suit. Following the release of a redacted transcript of the questioning today, Uber has asked a judge for more deposition time. At issue is the apparent lack of preparation on the part of Page with many “I don’t recall” answers.
The latest twist and turn in the Waymo v. Uber suit sees the Alphabet division allege that an Uber law firm helped hide stolen information related to the acquisition of Anthony Levandowski’s self-driving start-up. As the suit heads closer to trial in October, former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has just hired a former U.S. attorney to represent him.
Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving car company, has been test-driving its custom Chrysler Pacifica minivans in Phoenix, Arizona for the last couple of months. This public-facing testing is to help teach Waymo’s cars and minivans how to drive independently on public streets. Now, the company has been working with a local police and fire department to train the self-driving minivans to better recognize and react to emergency vehicles…
This past Friday saw a flurry of developments in Waymo’s case against Uber, including the Alphabet company toning down its patent infringement claims to focus on trade secret theft. As part of the upcoming October trial, a magistrate judge has granted Uber the ability to depose Larry Page.
At the insistence of the presiding U.S. District Judge, Waymo has reduced the number of patent-infringement claims it is waging against Uber to all but one. Rather, the Alphabet division (via Bloomberg) will be focusing on the theft of trade secrets in its upcoming trial.
Uber revealed today that some of its executives, including CEO Travis Kalanick, were aware that ex-Google engineer Anthony Levandowski possessed data from his previous employer. However, the ride-sharing service claims that at the time it did know about the proprietary nature of the data. Uber further argues that its former self-driving lead only took the information due to a bonus dispute with Google.
A report out of BuzzFeed News at the beginning of this month said that Alphabet’s Waymo was in the early stages of exploring self-driving trucks, and now (via Jalopnik) we have our first peek at one of those trucks out on public roads. The truck sports an appropriate light blue color, the Waymo insignia, and of course the self-driving hardware suite.
Back in April, Waymo expanded its trial of self-driving Chrysler Pacificas to all residents of Phoenix, Arizona. With 100 cars already in the fleet, it also announced 500 additional minivans for the public test. The Alphabet company has today revealed an agreement that will see Avis Car Rental managing those autonomous vehicles.
According to new court documents, Uber’s now ex-CEO Travis Kalanick was aware that the ex-Googler Anthony Levandowski, then at his newly-founded startup Otto, had “discs” containing Google documents as far back as March 2016. Kalanick reportedly “conveyed” to Levandowski that he “should not bring any Google information into Uber.”
According to a new report from BuzzFeed News, Alphabet’s Waymo self-driving car company is exploring self-driving trucking. The report explains that the efforts are currently in their early stages, though the company has confirmed that it is testing self-driving trucks…
Anthony Levandowski, the former Google engineer at the center of Waymo and Uber’s legal battle, has been fired. This termination comes due to his continued refusal to cooperate in proceedings over whether the ride-sharing service stole Alphabet’s self-driving technology.
According to a research note from Morgan Stanley analysts Brian Nowak and Adam Jonas (via Business Insider), Alphabet’s Waymo self-driving car unit could be worth as much as $70 billion. The analysts furthermore told investors that Waymo would be a good spin out candidate and that its value is not being taken into account in Alphabet’s current stock price…
Waymo has been telegraphing over the past few months that its autonomous technology is ready for wider use. Now, the Alphabet division has signed a deal with Lyft to boost its effort and bring self-driving cars into the mainstream.
Alphabet’s self-driving company, Waymo, today announced that it has crossed 3 million miles of public road driving. The company announced the milestone in a tweet, sharing a GIF that depicts the pace of its self-driving testing.
In the latest chapter of Waymo and Uber’s ongoing legal battle, a lawyer for Waymo alleged during a hearing today in San Francisco federal court that Uber conspired with Anthony Levandowski to create a “cover-up scheme” in order to steal Waymo’s self-driving car technology…
According to a report this afternoon from Business Insider, Anthony Levandowski, the subject of a dramatic legal battle between Alphabet’s Waymo and Uber over alleged stolen self-driving car technology, has stepped aside from his role as lead of Uber’s Advanced Technologies group. Levandowski will reportedly continue overseeing operations and safety, however…
Last week, we reported on Electrek that by adding 300 Chevy Bolt EV to its self-driving test fleet, GM was on its way to having the biggest captive self-driving test fleet in the world, but Waymo just crushed that dream today.
Waymo, formerly Google’s self-driving effort and now an official Alphabet company, announced that it is deploying 500 self-driving Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivan in Phoenix. Interestingly, it’s not only about gathering data from driving since they will also give actual rides to the public through a new program.
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In the latest development in Alphabet’s lawsuit against Uber over supposed theft of self-driving car technology, a judge is now asking Uber to detail exactly what Anthony Levandowski has been working on since he was hired…
A little over a month ago, Google‘s parent company Alphabet — or, more specifically, its Waymo subsidiary — filed a lawsuit against Uber, which allegedly stole key information with regard to its self-driving technology.
Given that, beyond the lawsuit itself, Uber’s reputation is at stake, the ride-hailing company has tried to deny the accusations and kept things as quiet as possible ever since, but the Mountain View giant doesn’t seem to be exactly on the same page…
The last time we talked about Google’s former self-driving car head Chris Urmson was back in the summer of 2016, and since then, he has gone on to found a stealth (also self-driving-related) startup by the name of Aurora Innovation. Now, SEC filings (via Axios) reveal that the startup has raised over $3 million in venture capital…
